


our eyes are never closing; our hearts were never broken

by thequeenofokay



Series: cross my heart; karainward verse [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Kid Fic, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2015-05-31
Packaged: 2018-04-02 06:01:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4048894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thequeenofokay/pseuds/thequeenofokay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She takes a deep breath, steadying herself, and knocks on the door.</p><p>Grant answers. He’s got one hand on the gun tucked into his waistband.</p><p>‘This is yours,’ Raina says. She hands over the bundle of blankets before he can object.</p><p> </p><p>// raina visits grant to drop something -- someone -- off. nothing goes as she'd expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	our eyes are never closing; our hearts were never broken

**Author's Note:**

> \+ hi im trash but i want my kids to be a fun happy family oKAY.
> 
> \+ title from "photograph" by ed sheeran.

Raina likes to think that usually she can make the right call. She’s always been a good judge of situations and of _people_ and she knows when to make her escape.

This was not one of those times. And while she would _like_ to make an escape, unfortunately it’s not really an option.

She takes a deep breath, steadying herself, and knocks on the door.

Grant answers. He’s got one hand on the gun tucked into his waistband.

‘This is yours,’ Raina says. She hands over the bundle of blankets before he can object.

Grant stares in shock. She can’t really blame him. ‘This is a baby,’ he says.

She sighs, a little exasperatedly. ‘Yes,’ she says.

He’s already cradling the baby gently and looking her a look of wonderment that makes Raina ache a little. ‘When you say it’s mine,’ he begins, and looks up at her in a way that finishes the question for her.

‘Ours,’ she confirms, softer than she means to, ‘yes.’

He hums, and the baby gurgles up at her father. ‘What’s it called?’ he asks.

‘Iris,’ she says, and she can see him trying it out silently.

‘A girl?’

Raina nods. ‘Yes.’

‘What happened to you,’ he asks, ‘in San Juan.’

She almost smiles, mouth twisting up. ‘I can see the future,’ she says. ‘You know, she’s inhuman too.’

Grant looks down at the baby in his arms, suddenly looking concerned. ‘Is she okay?’

‘She’s fine,’ Raina says. ‘Her powers haven’t been activated.’

‘She’s beautiful,’ he says. He looks up at her again, too serious. He’s missing the mask of charisma he put on with Hydra, and she’s not sure how she feels about it. ‘I’m sorry if you regret what happened on the way to San Juan, he says. ‘It was probably a mistake.’

She should say something, brush him off, but she’s not sure if it _was_ a mistake.

‘And I’m sorry you were on your own,’ he adds, ‘when you had her.’

‘It wasn’t a problem,’ she says. It’s a lie – she was alone and _terrified_ , but he doesn’t need to know that.

She takes a step back.

‘Are you leaving?’ he asks.

She smiles. ‘Why would I stay?’

He takes a moment to answer, shifting Iris in his arms. ‘What about her?’

‘You and Kara will take good care of her,’ she says. He looks a little surprised that he knows about Kara but of _course_ she knows. ‘Where is she?’ she asks. ‘Wouldn’t she want to know who you’ve been speaking to for so long?’

Grant frowns slightly. ‘She’s on a supply run,’ he says. ‘She should be home soon.’

The word “home” is a strange kick in the gut. A reminder that she’s giving him what she’ll never have – a family.

‘I should leave,’ she says.

‘You can’t just leave me with a _baby_ ,’ he protests. ‘What do I feed her? I don’t have a crib for her –’

‘You’ll figure it out, I’m sure,’ she says.

‘Come inside,’ he says. ‘Just five minutes.’

She’s not sure why she doesn’t say no, but she follows him in anyway.

He’s still holding Iris, rocking her gently, as he puts on the kettle and sets about making tea.

She leans against his kitchen table. It’s all disconcertingly _domestic_.

He hands her a mug, and she takes it with a quiet ‘thank you’.

Against her better judgment, she asks, ‘So how have you been?’

He smiles, in the sarcastic, twisted sort of way that makes her think of how well they fit before she can stop herself.

‘Skye shot me,’ he says, ‘four times. I escaped with Kara. We’ve been running ever since.’

Raina looks around the kitchen. ‘This looks a little more permanent than on the run,’ she says.

He shrugs. ‘It gets tiring,’ he admits.

Raina hears the front door opening, and then Kara enters with a bag of groceries in each arm. She stops in the doorway, staring.

‘Grant,’ she says carefully. ‘What’s happening?’

Grant looks slightly lost for a second. ‘This is Raina,’ he says, gesturing towards her.

Kara nods, setting her shopping down. ‘She was in San Juan.’ She narrows her eyes at him slightly. ‘Why do you have a _baby_?’

‘She’s… mine. Ours,’ he says, and Raina isn’t exactly sure who “ours” refers to.

‘ _Grant_ ,’ Kara says, exasperated, and Grant at least looks a little sheepish. ‘I said yes to a _dog_ not a _baby_.’

Raina smiles despite herself.

Iris makes a little mewl of complaint, and Raina can see Kara melt slightly. Raina hates herself a little for how sweet she finds it.

She scoops the baby up out of Grant’s arms, rocking her and cooing gently. ‘This doesn’t mean I don’t think we should discuss this,’ she says.

‘Do you want to?’ he asks.

Kara frowns. ‘No,’ she admits. ‘She’s wonderful.’

Grant _beams_ , and Raina feels strangely warm inside.

‘What about her?’ Kara asks, nodding towards Raina.

‘Oh,’ Raina says, speaking for the first time since Kara’s entered. She sets down her mug on the table behind her and straightens. ‘I’m not staying.’

Kara tilts her head, with a look of kindness that Raina isn’t used to. ‘Are you sure?’ she asks. ‘You’re her mother.’

This wasn’t how Raina saw this going. She shouldn’t say yes – the whole _plan_ was to leave Iris and never look back.

She’s not ready to be a mother. She’s not _supposed_ to be a mother.

‘I shouldn’t,’ she says.

Iris picks this opportunity to burst into tears. Grant looks suddenly terrified.

‘I’m sorry,’ he tells Iris, rocking her gently. He looks up between Kara and Raina, waiting for one of them to tell him what to do.

Raina frowns, because this was _so_ not the plan, but she thinks if she doesn’t step in now Grant is going to start crying too.

‘Pass her here,’ she says, reaching out, and Grant hands Iris over.

Raina settles Iris in her arms so the her head lays in the crook of her shoulder, swaying and shushing her daughter as she learned to do in the first few days after her birth.

Finally, Iris goes quiet. Raina sighs softly. She doesn’t meet Kara and Grant’s eyes because she _knows_ they’re both watching her – and if she sees the way they’re looking at her, she knows she’ll give in and stay.

‘She probably needs a feed or a change,’ she says.

‘We need to go shopping,’ Kara says. ‘We’ve got nothing for her.’

‘I don’t know what we need,’ Grant says, and Raina _knows_ what they’re doing.

She caves anyway. ‘I could help,’ she says.

Kara breaks into the kind of smile that is all kinds of radiant and thoroughly unfair on Raina’s resolve to keep her distance. ‘Thank you,’ she says.

‘This doesn’t mean I’m staying,’ Raina insists.

It does.

**Author's Note:**

> \+ find me on [tumblr](http://karapalamas.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](http://twitter.com/karapalamas/) if you wanna hear about how maya stojan literally hugged me.


End file.
